Wednesday, 12 May 2010

On the last Sunday in April, the sun was shining, it felt like summer had come early, and Pete did mammoth amounts in the garden. And we oohed and aahed over new growth!

The raspberry canes were showing good growth with lovely bright foliage.

Previously, we'd planted our early crop seed potatoes in trenches. These were just starting to push through the soil.

Our savoy cabbages never really hearted up during the winter so we left them in. Most bolted, like these, into tall, willowy cabbage "trees" with pretty, flowery heads.

I harvested the leaves from the stems from several of them (a week or two previously) and chopped and froze them for later use. But the freezer is now full so these ones become fodder for the compost bin.

Apart from one exception, which somehow managed to heart up. And we enjoyed him fresh, chopped and boiled as a very simple side dish.

The rhubarb plant was growing, yes, but taking it's sweet time about it. Pete weeded all around it, after I took the photo.

Pete planted companion marigolds in various spots around the garden, to attract pollinating insects and munch garden pests. Some went beneath the new apple tree, which has a few tiny buds appearing!

My chocolate mint, in a pot, resurrected itself, after dying away during the winter.

Again, the fig tree, in a large pot, is showing lots of tiny fruit, but these have never yet grown into proper ripe fruit. This is the tree's last chance. No fruit this year = banishment! (I said that last year too, so this year's already a reprieve and it better perform or else!)

Pete potted my three varieties of tomatoes into grow bags in the greenhouse. The rest of the seedlings will go outside, not just yet though.

Greenhouse seedlings are doing well. Above centre and right are purple sprouting broccoli.

Those big silver trays are what a range of Indian dishes were delivered in, when I got outside catering to provide food for a garden party for our wedding anniversary last year - in my parents' garden, not here! They make great seed trays!

These are lettuce seedlings.

The gherkin seedlings were planted into a large window box, to live in the greenhouse.

The area to back, in the middle strip, has sugar snaps at the very back. The covered and grassy bit will be home to the main crop potatoes soon. On the right, Pete's emptied the old grow bags and dug them in. And most of those cabbage "trees" are now gone.

These pretty weeds will soon be gone too, but for now they provide a burst of lovely colour and the insects like them.

Mamta's Kitchen

Fans of Indian cooking may like to visit Mamta's Kitchen, a family cookbook on the web. Mamta is my lovely mum and provides most of the recipes (with many also kindly provided by family, friends and readers). Pete (my husband) and I created and maintain the site.